Jean Charles de Menezes, 27, was chased by plain clothes police into the Stockwell Tube in London on Friday. He was Brazilian. An electrician. Earlier reports said Jean Charles, yet unidentified, was Asian. Instead, he was Brazilian. He was wearing a coat that the police said was suspicious, considering the weather. Could have been harboring a bomb. A coat they said looked like it was padded. What exactly happened is sketchy because we still have only earlier reports, when Jean Charles was still a suspect, when Jean Charles was apparently a suspect because he emerged from a house that was under surveillance, when the impression would be given that he was guilty of being potentially a suicide bomber. We do know that, chased by the police, Jean Charles de Menezes was terrified. He ran to a train. Witnesses saw his face, saw his last look at the world, on the train. They said he was terrified. That he looked like a cornered rabbit. He tripped as he got onto the train, grabbing a pole, and the police were right behind him, pushing him down to the floor. Rather than taking advantage of Jean Charles de Menezes’ tripping throwing him off balance, which may have been an opportune moment for the police to grab his hands and cuff them, which would mean Jean Charles de Menezes would be alive today and able to tell his story of what happened, the police, piling on top of him, promptly fired. His gun drawn, one of the officers pointed his automatic at Jean Charles de Menezes’ head and
POW
first bullet into Jean Charles de Menezes’ head
POW
second bullet into Jean Charles de Menezes’ head
POW
third bullet into Jean Charles de Menezes’ head
POW
fourth bullet into Jean Charles de Menezes’ head
POW.
A moment of silence here.
An air ambulance arrived. I read witnesses say everything was done to revive Jean Charles de Menezes at the scene, but he was dead.
5 bullets to the head will do that. One can imagine what 5 bullets to the head will do.
Jean Charles de Menezes is dead. The BBC reported today that he was not connected to the bombings. Scotland Yard said,
We are now satisfied that he was not connected with the incidents of Thursday 21st July 2005.
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What a relief for Jean Charles de Menezes to be cleared of suspicion.
Now that he is dead.
Scotland Yard said,
For somebody to lose their life in such circumstances is a tragedy and one that the Metropolitan Police Service regrets.
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Yes, it is a tragedy, isn’t it. I’m glad the Metro Police Service regrets it. The regrets, however, are too late for Jean Charles de Menezes.
The police acted to do what they believed necessary to protect the lives of the public.
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Shoot first, don’t ask questions later, not when you’ve blown an innocent man’s brains away. I don’t call him the suspect here because to call him a suspect would give the impression that Jean Charles de Menezes was possibly not innocent. In his heavy coat. Running from the police.
Who would run from the police if they were innocent, right?
No one ever runs from the police if they are innocent.
Police in civilian clothing.
If you run from the police you are guilty.
“The Fugitive”, David Janssen, ran from the police for 4 years in 120 episodes on ABC television. He wasn’t guilty and everyone cheered him on, making it a top-rated show.
This tragedy has added another victim to the toll of deaths for which the terrorists bear responsibility.
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And that, my friends, is the capper. The police bear no responsibility. The terrorists shall from now on bear the responsibility for regretable actions, on the part of the authorities, against innocent people.
I read at BBC the remarks of people on the shooting. A quote highlighted is, “The police cannot afford to take chances.”
Many people are saying this. The man was suspicious. He wore the wrong kind of jacket. An innocent man died and that is somehow justifiable in the minds of these individuals because he could have, just possibly been a bomber who would kill themselves or loved ones.
I doubt they would be saying it was a justifiable slaying had Jean Charles been one of those loved ones. They would have then said, “The police are supposed to be protecting us, not killing innocent people.”
I doubt many members of the Muslim community are saying, “The police cannot afford to take chances.”
The NY TImes reports that author Tom Bower wrote in Saturday’s “The Daily Mail”,
Many civil liberties will have to be infringed to impose the requirement on all communities, including Britain’s Muslims, to destroy the terrorists before they destroy us.
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This may mean the loss of your very life. For Jean Charles de Menezes, 27, it did mean the loss of his life.
Magdi al-Nashar, an Egyptian chemist, who knew the bomber Hasib Hussain and helped to arrange the rental of a a flat in which traces of explosives were found, was arrested in Cairo.
The Egyptian interior minister has since reported there was no link between Magdi al-Nashar and al-Quaeda or the bombings and that reports linking him to al-Qaeda were groundless and based on a hasty conclusion.
A 16 year old boy who shares the same name as Hasib Hussain, had his passport photo published around the world for all to see, identifying him as the bomber.
He was terrified. He first saw his photograph on the news. He said, “I didn’t want people looking at me saying, hey, you are supposed to be dead, or someone saying that there goes the London bomber.”
We know an individual who changed his surname as a young man because the police kept showing up and arresting him for things another man was doing, another man who shared his name. That other man was apparently bad news, but he was not our friend who was several times arrested for things the other man did.
Jean Charles emerged from the wrong house. He was wearing the wrong kind of clothing. When chased by officers in “scruffy” civilian clothing, he ran.
Jean Charles was an innocent individual.
We are supposed to mourn him as a victim of the terrorists, and not at all a victim of British authorities.
Because Jean Charles is dead, shot in the head five times after tripping and being pushed to the floor, shot five times in the head when he was down on the floor, no questions asked, we’ll never hear his opinion on the matter, whether he holds British authorities responsible or not. We are here. He is not. No more getting up in the morning for Jean Charles. No more eating, no more drinking. No more talking. No more breathing.
“The police can not afford to take chances,” people are saying.
Not afford to take chances that they are shooting to kill a suicide bomber or an innocent individual?
Will flowers be placed at the Stockwell Tube station in London for Jean Charles de Menezes?
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